Breath of Fresh Air
by psycho-yami
Summary: Kenny dies every day, but one day Kenny doesn't come back. The boys bury him in Starks Pond. Now everybody is in high school and there is a rumor of a new kid. But why does his eyes look familiar to Kyle? And why does he have the same name as Kenny? K2


**I don't own anything. It belongs to whoever it belongs to.**

**Chapter 1: Unexpected Funeral and Moving On**

It was a lazy Sunday afternoon in South Park. Stan, Kyle, Kenny, and Cartman were playing football with the other South Park kids. The teams consisted of: Stan, Kyle, Kenny, Butters, and Tweak vs. Carman, Clyde, Craig, Token, and Pip – with Jimmy and Timmy acting like the referee on the sides. There was nothing out of the ordinary for the 4th graders.

"Hike the ball already Kyle!" Shouted Cartman from the other side of the make shift field by Starks Pond.

"Shut up Fat-ass!" shouted Kyle.

"Hey, I'm not fat…" started Carman.

"Yeah, yeah you're big boned. Hike!" finished Kyle hiking the ball to Stan who was behind him.

All the kids started running and shuffling, some trying to block those who were open and others trying to be open so Stan can throw the football and score a touchdown. Craig and Token rushed toward Stan in order to tackle him so he won't be able to pass the ball. Tweak kept muttering 'too much pressure' and tried to hide behind Clyde, whose intent was to block him, when Stan's eyes fell on him for a second. Cartman was trying to tackle Kyle and Kyle was running away from Cartman while yelling several profanities at him. Butters and Pip seemed to be having a conversation with out of nowhere tea cups in each others' hand. In all the confusion no one of the opposing team realized that Kenny was open over by the edge of the pond, but Stan did.

"Kenny!" was all that Stan shouted before he threw the ball and being tackled by Craig and Token. He didn't noticed that he put a little too much strength behind his throw until the ball flew by Kenny, intending to land somewhere by the what seemed frozen pond. Kenny, not wanting to let scoring a touchdown pass, chased after the ball. When the ball started to nose dive to the ground Kenny thought he was not going to make it. With a final decision he jumped toward the ball and catching it mid air. Landing on the soft frozen water, he turned around to cheer and show everybody that he was able to catch the ball. While the other children cheered for him he started doing a little victory dance, not noticing or hearing the soft cracks the frozen water was giving out.

When he was about to take his first step to solid ground the ice gave out, dragging Kenny down its icy water. That immediately stopped the children stop whatever they were doing and gasp at the scene that just occurred right in front of their eyes. Kyle was the only one who tried to make his way toward the hole Kenny slipped through but before he even took that first step a hand stopped him.

"It's too dangerous to go out there Kyle," Stan said.

"But…" tried Kyle.

"The ice might crack." Stan reasoned.

"But Kenny…" Kyle tried once again.

"It's too late. There is nothing we can do about it. Anyways, we'll see him tomorrow at the bus stop," Stan said, trying to make Kyle forget about Kenny.

"Sigh…you're right." Kyle stared sadly towards the pond. He felt guilty at leaving one of his friends to die of frostbite, pneumonia, drowning, and other horrible things that could happen to him but above all die alone.

Jimmy called the game over since there was no ball. Everybody made their way to their homes. All of them forgetting, except for Kyle, that there was a little boy under that icy water who drowned today, thinking they were going to see them tomorrow.

~Next Day: Bus stop~

Stan, Kyle and Cartman were waiting at the usual bus stop for the bus to take them to another boring school day. While waiting for both their fourth group member and the bus to arrive, Cartman and Kyle were fighting like always.

"…you dirty Jew," insulted Cartman.

"Screw you fat-ass, and stop calling me dirty. Jews are not dirty" argued Kyle.

"The hell they aren't," countered Cartman.

Before Kyle was able to insult Cartman about his weight, he noticed something.

"Hey, don't you think Kenny should be here already?" Kyle questioned as he saw the bus coming in the horizon.

"Pffft, his poor ass can't afford an alarm clock," said Cartman maliciously.

"Didn't stop him from coming earlier than you, you retard," Kyle defended Kenny.

"We'll probably see him later in school," concluded Stan while the bus stopped in front of him and getting in followed by a worried Kyle and an annoying Cartman.

Arriving at school they went to their respected class and took their assigned chairs, Mr. Garrison started droning on at some topic as soon as the class began. All in all it was a regular boring school day with the exception of one boy.

Lunch came around and said boy still hadn't shown up at school at all.

"Dude, I'm starting to worry about Kenny. What if he doesn't come today? What if something terrible happened to him yesterday?" started Kyle to mini rant in worry.

"Aww, Kyle misses his butt fuck buddy. What, you not getting any yesterday is making you have your panties in a bunch today?" teased Cartman.

"Shut the fuck up, Cartman!" screamed Kyle.

"Calm down you guys…I'm pretty sure he's just ditching or something. I'm sure where ever he is, he is fine," Stan tried to calm his mother-hen of a friend.

"Fine, only if you're sure," said Kyle looking at Stan.

"I am," Stan said reassuringly also looking at Kyle.

"Fags," muttered Cartman, ensuring another pointless squabble between him and Kyle. The school day ended with them not seeing their other member, Kyle worrying, Stan trying to calm his worries, and Cartman being an ass like always. Tomorrow will be a new day.

~Day 2: Bus stop~

"Dude, I seriously think there is something wrong. We have not seen Kenny since Sunday!" Kyle's nerves were going through the roof for the missing person.

"Relax, you fag-Jew. He's probably whoring himself around or doing some other shit for money," said Cartman getting annoyed of Kyle's constant worry for their group member.

"No! That is not like Kenny. Your mother is the one who is the whore Cartman." Kyle said fed up with him.

"Hey…!" Cartman started but before he was finished Stan interrupted yet another dumb quarrel.

"No, I think Kyle's right. Two days without seeing Kenny is really weird, "said Stan.

"So what do you want us to do about it?" replied Cartman lazily.

"I say we go to his house today after school. Surely his parents know where he is." Kyle said enthusiastically at the thought of seeing Kenny again.

"I agree," replied Stan upon seeing Kyle eager.

"Laaaaame," replied Cartman but no doubt going to go with them.

With their new plan they waited patiently for the bus to once again take them to their hell, school.

~After School~

School seemed to take forever for Kyle, who was fidgeting all day, and the bus ride even more. Once they arrived and got off at their respectable stop Kyle hurriedly went in the direction of Kenny's home leaving Stan and Cartman to chase after him. Only when he saw Kenny's beat up house did he slowed down for the other two, much to Cartman's wheezing relief.

As they made their way up to Kenny's house door Kyle became more hesitantly. What if they haven't seen Kenny? What if they don't care? What if they chase them away in their drunken stupor? Kyle seemed to freeze once they were in front of the door of their destination. Cartman was about to make a rude remark but a glare from Stan shut him up.

"Dude what are you waiting for?" asked Stan.

"What if something bad happened to him? What if they don't know where he is?" Kyle voiced his concerns.

"I'm pretty sure he is there in his room," tried Stan to calm him. Kyle wasn't too reassured with his statement this time but still made no move to knock on the door. Seeing Kyle still hesitating, Stan knocked on the door for him. It didn't take more than five seconds when the door flew open showing one tear stained desperate mother. The boys stood frozen, seeing her in that state means something was not good.

"Oh, hello boys," Carol greeted the kids with a sniff and wiping her blood shot eyes. "Umm, you don't happen to know where Kenny is, do you." It was what Kyle feared, they don't know where he is.

"Umm, no. We actually came here to ask you that." Stan said seeing as how Kyle was still frozen in place.

"He hasn't been home since Sunday. I'm getting really worried." Carol fidgeted with the tissue she had in her hands.

"Us too. Sunday was the last day we saw him," said Stan, starting to feel guilty.

"Really? Tell me about it. Would you guys like to come in?" said Carol with a ray of hope.

Stan had to push Kyle to come inside of the residency and made him sit in the beaten up torn sofa. Cartman surprisingly followed silently, not even making a remark of the poor dirty living condition of everything in the house.

"Tell me what happened." Carol said as she sat at the reclining chair.

Stan started to tell the whole incident of Sunday. He told her how they were playing football by the edge of Stark's Pond, how he threw the football to Kenny and how the ball was making his way toward what seemed the frozen pond, how he gave chase to the ball and finally how he fell to the frozen water.

"So he's really dead?" asked Carol to no one.

"We didn't think of anything since he always comes back." Stan tried to explain their cold behavior to a dying friend. Carol started crying once again. The boys started to feel very bad and guilty for leaving their friend to die. Kyle was the only who also cried with Carol, the other two just kept their head down. For what seemed thirty minutes, both Carol and Kyle cried. Once they calmed down Kyle spoke for the first time since they stepped on their porch.

"Are you going to have a funeral for Kenny?" was Kyle's innocent question.

"No." said Carol softly.

This stunned the boys but mostly Kyle.

"Why not?" Kyle uttered in a whisper of utter disbelief.

"We don't have any money." Was Carols answer, as if was the most natural thing in the world.

"But…he deserves a funeral at least!" this time Kyle's voice rose in anger.

"But we can't afford it," Carol tried desperately to reason with Kyle, going onto another fit of tears. She knew Kenny at least deserved a funeral. It killed her that they couldn't at least do that for her kids.

Looking at Carol with rage in his eyes Kyle couldn't take it anymore, he asked if he can go to Kenny's room in a cold voice. Carol just nodded and Kyle got up swiftly from the couch and sprinted to Kenny's room with Stan and Cartman hot on his heels. Once he reached Kenny's room he just stood there for a while and stared. Stared at how barren his room was in comparison to his, Stan's or any other South Park kid's room. Tears once again started dancing at Kyle's eyes but he refused to let them drop, instead he focused on what he came here to do. Making his way to the tiny closet of the room. Opening it Kyle saw that only one other thin familiar orange parka was hanging inside. Taking it, he made his way out of the room, shoving Stan and Cartman in the process, and out of Kenny's house. Stan and Cartman were once again were render to chase after him. They followed him all the way to Stark's Pond, to the spot where Kenny drowned to be exact. When they caught up with him they found him sitting on the cold snow hugging the orange parka for dear life crying his eyes out.

"We didn't do anything," mumbled Kyle, "we didn't do anything and we just let him die alone!" he screamed the last part.

"There was nothing really we could do…" Stan started but Kyle didn't let him finish.

"Yes there was! We could have told someone! We could have told someone and maybe he could still be alive right now!" Kyle started crying hysterically.

Stan moved to Kyle and sat next to him on the cold snow and threw one arm around his shoulders, bringing him closer to him so Kyle could cry on his shoulder. Cartman just hovered behind his friends a bit awkwardly; he wasn't used to dealing with people crying.

"We are going to make this right." Stan voiced his silent resolution once Kyle's tears calmed.

"What?" Kyle looked up at Stan.

"We are going to make this right."

"How?"

"We are going to hold a funeral for Kenny ourselves" stated Stan.

Kyle was just speechless. "But…we don't have any money."

"We won't need any money," said Stan, making Kyle just stare at him once again. "We are going to bury him here."

"But…there's no body," said Kyle, his eyes misting once again with tears.

"That parka of his will do just fine. We will dig a grave and bury him here ourselves." Stan said with a small smile.

Kyle just looked at Stan with awe before he gave the brightest most sincere smile Stan has seen so far. Drying his tears they both got up and told Cartman their plan, to tell all the kids that they are going to hold a funeral in Stark's Pond for Kenny on Saturday and absolutely no adults were a loud to know. Cartman just sighed and agreed with them, only because he considered Kenny the closest to him of the three friends.

The next day on school they told everybody they came across with. Some kids promising to be there, other kids not really caring which Kyle almost punched the daylights out of them but didn't since Stan always held him back.

~Saturday~

Only the kids they knew showed up that Saturday, all dressed in their best black clothes. Bebe, Tweek, Wendy, Red, Timmy, Jimmy, Butters, Clyde, Pip, Craig, and Token. They all made their way to Stark's Pond in the afternoon where there were chairs already set up, a picture of Kenny, and the grave hole which was all under a big tree near the place where he drown. Stan, Kyle – hugging the orange parka and tears in his eyes – and Carman was also already there. They all took their seats and sat there; once everybody was seated Stan got up and stood near Kenny's picture.

"We are all here to mourn the death of our friend Kenny. Whoever wants to come up and say something you can do so." With that short little speech Stan took his seat next to Kyle.

One by one they all took turns talking about the fun moments in their life with Kenny; many already having tears in their eyes when realization came to them that they would never see him again. As the last kid to make their speech sat down Kyle got up still holding his parka.

"Kenny was always there whenever we needed him, whether it was for a joke or for some terms we didn't know. We also took his deaths for granted since every time he died he would come back. At first it did worry us but as it kept reoccurring it became less of a novelty and so we shrug them off. Never did we think that he would never come back and with that we let him die a lonely death. Nobody was there. Nobody did anything to help him from what could be an avoidable death. Not even his best buds did anything for him. I didn't do anything for him." At his last sentence Kyle let his tears run down, not caring how weak he seemed. "And so, we hold this funeral for him for his last good bye." Kyle turned towards Kenny picture. "Good bye buddy. I'm sorry we didn't help you when you needed the most help." Kyle held the parka tight and close to his face, smelling the sweet smell of Kenny's before he threw the parka inside the grave hole. He took a fist full of dirt and threw it down the hole before breaking into more tears. Stan had to get up and help him sit down.

Once again one by one they all got up and grabbed a fist full of dirt and threw it on the ground. When they once again sat in their seats Stan motioned to Cartman to grab a shovel. Both of them started to fill in the whole that took them all morning to dig. Stan let a few tears fall on the grave and it seemed that Cartman's eyes looked misted but nobody knew if it was from sweat. As they finished filling in the grave, Stan picked up the make shit cross of thin wood they got from a hardware store and put it at the head of the grave. In very sloppy writing you could see Kenny's name and the years he was born and died. As soon as Stan finished the grave everybody stood there quietly before slowly they left. Only Kyle, Stan and Cartman stayed for the longest time. Once the sun set on the horizon they each made to their home.

Cartman just went home and watched television while eating his dinner; Stan came home to see his family starting to eat dinner and just silently joined them. Kyle did something else entirely. Kyle came home and locked himself in his room, not even the pounding of his mother's fist made him come out of his room. He became severely depressed and he stayed like that for weeks.

Months passed by and Kyle seemed like he was getting better and out of his depressed state. He started playing with the other kids whenever they invited him and was even getting in trouble for the shenanigans he got roped on. Once he started having his daily verbal fights with Cartman everybody stopped worried about him. But he never forgot the friend that was buried on Stark's Pond and every time he passed there the lone grave reminded him of him.

Years passed by and everybody was growing up but everything stayed the same. There were new kids that came to school; Damien, Gregory, and Christophe were the ones who stood out from the new kids, and others that moved out. They all made it through elementary with nothing out of the ordinary. They even entered middle school and the first two years were relative uneventful. Sure Stan and Wendy were dating on and off again but that had always happened since third grade. Kyle and other boys got asked on dates by some of the most daring girls; and while the other boys did went on those dates Kyle never was interested, in anybody. But once they hit the eighth grade the strangest thing happened. It seemed that almost everybody got bit by the gay bug. The first couple that made their relationship known was Damien and Pip. It seemed like the weirdest pair, what with Damien's constant rant that he was the son of Satan and Pip being oblivious to the point of innocent. Talk about polar opposites.

The next controversial couple was Craig and Tweek. Apparently they started their romance over the summer before the start of high school. Also another thing that change once they entered high school is that Cartman was hanging a little too much with Butters. They had asked him if there was something going on with him and Butters but he immediately denied anything. That still didn't stop him from hanging less with Stan and Kyle and more with Butters, making the rumors seem true. So by the time they hit tenth grade a lot of guys came out of the closet, Gregory and Christophe were the last ones.

With nobody else to hang out with them, Stan and Kyle spent most of their time together, much to Wendy's dismay. Thinking that Stan might turn gay and leave her, she started to make Stan spend all his time with her, leaving poor Kyle alone most of the time. At first he understood Wendy's behavior and maybe would have done the same thing if he was a girl, but monopolizing Stan for the whole year seemed very extreme. He tried hanging out with Clyde and Token, but they had significant others, Clyde with Red and Token with Bebe, it was hard as well. So Kyle spent his tenth grade mostly alone in the library.

Once eleventh grade came, it seemed that Stan was able to talk to Wendy about her dominating behavior. So at the beginning of the semester they started hanging out again. But in eleventh grade something new happened as well. There was a transfer student half way the beginning of the semester. This news spread wild anticipation throughout the whole school, mostly the female population since it was a guy. It's very unheard of students transferring into South Park. Mostly it has been that whoever is in your class would be in your class for your whole education. So this is what has been talked about all morning since Kyle arrived at school.

"I know, Tory said he was so hot," squealed a girl in front of him.

"Oh how I wish I can date him," said the second girl next to the first one.

"I know." At this they both sighed dreamily. Kyle just rolled his eyes at their antics and walked passed them. He would never understand girl's need to date the new "hot thing."

Walking towards his locker he saw a group of girls up ahead. It seemed like they were surrounding something. Passing by he saw a blond guy, who no surely was the new guy, surrounded by the sea of girls. It looked like he was having a blast flirting with the girls and making them squeal. As he was passing by the cluster of girls the guy looked up. Kyle gasped and almost stopped at mid step when he saw clear blue eyes. Their eyes held one another for what seemed eternity but in reality was no more than a second. The spell was only broken when the guy looked down at a girl that was tugging at his sleeve, making Kyle's departure unnoticed. Well that is what he thought.

When he reached his locker there was only one thing that was passing through his mind; 'Where have I've seen those blue eyes before?'

So into trying to remember where he had seen those eyes before he didn't notice Stan creeping up to him. Nor did he notice how he crouched and made his steps more silent until it was too late and pounced on him. Giving a loud scream, Kyle jumped and turn to face his attacker, Stan.

"Dude what the fuck? You want to give me a heart attack or something?" Kyle said trying to catch his breath.

"Hey, it's not my fault you're not paying attention. What were you thinking about anyways?" said Stan casually.

"The new guy's eyes," said Kyle without thinking.

"Aww man. Don't tell me you're gaga over him too." Stan said exasperated.

"What? No! I'm just thinking I have seen his eyes before but I don't know where." Kyle explained hurriedly. It was a known fact that Kyle might swing that way.

Stan just gave him an I-don't-believe-you look. Sighing Kyle just told him "let's go to class" trying to avoid any hassle.

Making their way to their first class room to start their, what they thought, regular school day. Sitting in their respected seats, next to each other, they started chatting while waiting for the class to start. Slowly but surely the class started filling up, and when the last student came in so did the teacher.

"Ok we are going to start working on your assignments right away. Please take out your notebook…" the teacher was interrupted by a knock on the door. Meanwhile all the other students were taking out their books and other notebooks as the teacher went to answer the door. Taking with whoever was outside, the students were wondering what has happening in the hall. The girls all started chatter animatedly whishing it was the hot new guy. When the teacher came inside he had a student follow him. When the girls saw the student they all gave a loud piecing scream. This caught the attention of Stan, Kyle – who were distracted by their conversation – and anybody else who was not paying attention. Kyle turned to the front of the class. His eyes widen and a small gasp left his lips. There in front of his class was the new guy. The girls were chatting noisily but Kyle paid no attention to what they were saying.

"Alright class, settle down. As you can see there is a new student. This is Kenneth McCormick. Kenneth you can sit to Kyle as it's the only empty seat. Kyle raise your hand."

Kyle didn't do what he was told, a first for him. He stood there, frozen in his seat as he just stared at the guy in front of the classroom.

'How can it be?' thought Kyle 'How can he look so much like Kenny and have the same name?'

"This is Kyle." Stan said while pointing at Kyle.

"Go and take you seat Kenneth," said the teacher to the new student.

Kenneth made his way towards his seat silently. The girls who were fortunate to be seated near the desk Kenneth was going to sit were squealing, while the other girls glared in jealousy at them. Kyle paid no attention but to Kenneth. When Kenneth made his move to sit on the desk next to him he saw all of his movements in slow motion. He saw how his dirty blond hair bounced lightly with every step he took, how the sun hit his hair and face making them glow when he passed a window. He was even able to see how clear his eyes were when the sun hit them. The most beautiful, most familiar blue eyes he has ever seen. He followed Kenneth all the way to his seat and continued to stare at him once he sat.

At first Kenneth didn't seem to notice someone staring at him as he was pulling the needed school supplies from his bag. When he saw that everybody had a text book except him he looked to his right. He was going to ask the girl if she would share her book with him but seeing as she was just itching to jump at him he reconsidered. When he turned left he saw the guy, Kyle he believed, staring at him. It kind of found it weird since he thought he was going to jump him like a girl would but seeing his gaze he saw none of the emotions the girls had in their eyes when they looked at him. Kyle's eyes seem to be displaying utter shock.

"Hey, do you mind sharing your book with me?" Kenneth asked as leaned in closer to Kyle.

He wasn't able to receive a respond as Kyle slowly fell backwards only to be barely caught by Stan. Everybody stopped what they were doing and looked at the commotion. It appeared that Kyle had fainted.

**Hey everybody I have a new story. Took me forever to post since I was busy creating others lol. If at the end it sounds like bullshit don't worry...it is lol I kinda finished writing this really late at night and I wanted to finish it already.**

**Like I said in previous stories, if you want to comment and/or review. I wont force you. But lately i have discovered that they make me very happy lol.**

**I kinda don't know when I will ever post chapter two since I'm a terrible procrastinator, blame my non-busy school schedule, and I'm coming up with new story ideas all the time that I just have to write it down. So everybody please be patient with me. ^-^**


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